Race-class debate

SIGNIFICANCE: The race-class debate is the scholarly argument concerning whether racial group membership or socioeconomic status is more significant in determining an individual’s life chances. At its heart, this debate also concerns whether race is a fundamental organizing feature of American society or if economic stratification is of central importance.

One of the major debates to arise in the field of race relations is referred to as the “race-class debate.” It centers on the issue of whether it is the treatment based on the racial group membership of minorities that explains their lack of social mobility, or whether it is only poor racial minorities who face roadblocks in social mobility. Some sociologists think that racism and racial minority status are more important in determining one’s life chances than is social class; racial organization, some say, is an independent and fundamental facet of American society. Others view the economic arrangement under capitalism and one’s social class to be more significant than race. They view racism as an outgrowth of capitalism and the economic exploitation that, they claim, is an ongoing feature of capitalist society.

Race-Based Theories

Scholars who place significance on racial organization often cite Black sociologist and political activist W. E. B. Du Bois, who proclaimed in his 1903 publication, The Souls of Black Folk, that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the colorline.” This implies that racial categorization is fundamental in American society; hence, issues of poverty and social mobility, along with persistent race discrimination can be traced to the issue of a “colorline” in American society. A major race relations theory supporting such a view is internal colonialism, articulated by Robert Blauner in his Racial Oppression in America (1972). Internal colonist theorists view contemporary race relations as growing out of a distinct process of colonialism, which describes the manner in which people of color were incorporated into American society. In this view, the low status of racial group members results from their nations being attacked and conquered, and then from them being defined as inferior, placed in the lowest positions of the society as labor or commodities, and excluded from the means for social mobility (such as education and political participation). In contemporary society, this subordinate status is maintained by the political, economic, and social practices of a powerful White majority that continues to exclude racial minorities from positions of power and privilege and to define them as comparatively inferior.

Another sociological perspective mirroring internal colonial theory’s contention that race is central to social organization in US society is articulated in the 1986 book Racial Formation in the United States, authored by Michael Omi and Howard Winant. Omi and Winant, following the Du Bois thesis, argue that “from the very inception of the Republic to the present moment, race has been a profound determinant of one’s political rights, one’s location in the labor market, and indeed one’s sense of ’identity.’” Their “racial formation” argues that class-based theories and colonial or nation-based theories subsume race under other social categories (class or nation). Furthermore, they argue that both mainstream (assimilationist) theories and radical (class and colonial) theories have underestimated the tremendous significance of race in US society.

Class-Based Theories

On the other side of the debate, class-based theories view economic forces as most significant in both determining and understanding race relations. For example, the Marxist sociologist Oliver C. Cox, in his 1970 work Caste, Class, and Race: A Study in Social Dynamics, argues that racism is a product of capitalism, which maintains the power of the ruling class by dividing workers from one another on the basis of race. Furthermore, racist ideology justifies the economic exploitation of people of color. Similarly, in the 1981 publication Racial Inequality: A Political-Economic Analysis, sociologist Michael Reich argues that workers who allow themselves to be divided by race are victims of “false consciousness” because they would benefit more from uniting and organizing as an economic class (against capitalists). In both views, racism flows from economic exploitation, and it is economic exploitation, not racism, which is the fundamental problem.

Another class-based sociological theory is that of William J. Wilson, presented in his 1978 work, The Declining Significance of Race. Wilson argues that, historically, race was more significant in determining where Black people would fall in the United States’ stratified society. He says that in contemporary society, however, Americans have achieved racial equality through changes brought about by civil rights legislation, which, he argues, resulted in social mobility for those Black people who are now in the middle and upper classes. According to Wilson, those Black people who remain subordinated in society are in that position primarily because of their membership in the lower class, not because of their race. Wilson, then, stresses class differences among Black people, rather than racial solidarity, as being of greater significance. He bases this conclusion on changes brought about through massive protest and the protective legislation that ensued; he believes that these changes resulted in the broader inclusion of some Black people, who were able to advance economically, and thereby to distance themselves from the ghetto. To Wilson, their poor counterparts, unable to take advantage of those gains because of their low class position, have remained stuck in the inner cities, which have only continued to deteriorate.

Policy Implications

The race-class debate has tremendous consequences for public policy, with widely divergent strategies resulting from taking either of these theoretical orientations. Generally, if the race thesis is more influential, policymakers respond by continuing to investigate the extent and manifestations of racism. They also create policies designed to minimize the social differences between racial groups and to break down barriers created by racism. If policymakers are influenced by arguments that economic deprivation, not racism, is responsible for the problems of racial minorities, then racially directed policies (such as affirmative action) lose their mandate for achieving parity between racial groups.

If racism is viewed as the critical issue, the distance between White people and people of color is the focus. Solutions revolve around protective measures to shield racial minorities from White racism. Labor experts and civil rights activists argue that when people have similar levels of educational attainment and work in similar occupations, any remaining inequality may be the product of race discrimination. This remains a powerful argument for both the maintenance and strengthening of civil rights legislation against race discrimination and for protective hiring practices such as affirmative action. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Fair Housing Act of 1968 are examples of legislation designed to promote equal opportunity and end racial discrimination. Furthermore, special educational programs in higher education, such as “remedial” courses and mentoring programs, are designed to target racial minorities, who appear far more likely than their White counterparts to drop out of college.

Despite civil rights legislation, racial minority group members who believe their lives are shaped more by race than by social class may not expect the White majority-dominated government to provide relief against racial barriers. This may lead to the generation of grassroots efforts to redress grievances and to the organization of political protest among fellow racial group members, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

On the other hand, policymakers who are convinced that the major problems confronting racial minorities afflict only the poor among them may seek one or both of two routes: They may seek to abandon any and all racially designed policies such as affirmative action or school integration; and they may create policies and programs specifically targeted for poor racial minorities. For example, scholars with remarkably differing views, such as William J. Wilson and neoconservative economist Thomas Sowell, have argued that affirmative action programs benefit primarily middle-class Black individuals and that group no longer faces racial discrimination. Moreover, Wilson highlights the differences between affluent and poor people of color, focusing upon African Americans, to say that class conflict has been heightened between group members and that middle-class African Americans inhabit a vastly different social universe from that of the poor, inner-city African American underclass with which he is primarily concerned. Wilson advocates government intervention for poor people of color, particularly in the devastated inner cities, to assist them in education, job training, and financial assistance. He claims that they suffer from economic dislocation caused by societal changes in the economy. Meanwhile, Sowell argues that inner-city dwellers lack the kind of “human capital,” such as motivation, values, skills, and training, that employers are seeking. Sowell also finds that affirmative action policies constitute “reverse” discrimination against White people. This kind of argument formed the rationale for the well-known Bakke case (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 1978), in which the Supreme Court held that a White man, Allan Bakke, had been unfairly blocked from admission to medical school because of his race. Generally, adoption of the class-based thesis results in the advocation of policies that are color-neutral, or racially blind. Policies and programs such as the Equal Opportunity Program in higher education are generally color-blind, targeting all economically disadvantaged students for special advising, mentoring, and tutoring to overcome deficiencies in their secondary education and ensure their successful completion of college.

Bibliography

Hacker, Andrew. Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal. New York: Scribner, 1992.

Levine, Rhonda F., ed. Social Class and Stratification: Classic Statements and Theoretical Debates. 2nd ed. Lanham: Rowman, 2006.

Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. Racial Formation in the United States. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge, 2015.

Orfield, Gary. The Walls Around Opportunity: The Failure of Colorblind Policy for Higher Education. Princeton University Press, 2022.

Smith, Robert C. "Internal Colonialism." Encyclopedia of African American Politics. 2nd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2014.

Wilson, William J. The Declining Significance of Race: Blacks and Changing American Institutions. 3rd ed. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2012.